Monday, July 30, 2007

Stiffs in the Grass: Algonquin Apartments Homicide (Again)

This morning at about 7AM my wife walked to work past the scene of a homicide that had occurred about an hour before in front of the Algonquin Apartments on E. Hyde Park Boulevard. It's a good thing we weren't out strolling with the baby. The story is getting a lot of attention in The Chicago Tribune, probably because the victim appears to have been pushed out a tenth-story window after having been beaten.

This is the second homicide in the Algonquin Apartments in 9 months. Back in October, a woman was found strangled in her bathtub two blocks from my front door.

My wife is freaked out, understandably. This is crazy. The October 2006 homicide was the sort of thing destined to become an urban legend: a psycho cable guy, one of any number of utility service folks that we all depend on, got inside a woman's house and murdered her. Now a man is thrown out a window.

Generally when I read the crime reports, I look to see if the incident happened inside a residence. If so, I generally breath easier. People who beat/assault/murder other people inside a domicile tend to know or be related to their victims. Street violence is a different matter. But although this happened inside a domicile, it's still scary.

We'll have more to say about street crime in Hyde Park-Kenwood in future posts. For now, we're just absorbing the shock of a gruesome demise.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Algonquin apartments are a high risk set of buildings, there are no doormen, no cameras watching the surrounds or inside the buildings. The doors are always opened to strangers by late night. The request of the residents to install cameras is frequent, but the management always have the same procedure: they still say that the building does not need such kind of security, we are safe!!!! The management did not comment on either deaths to any of the residents. They commented about a natural death of a 80 years old resident in a kind note, though. This is a disrespect in my opinion.
After two deaths in the same complex and robberies surrounding the building I will move, but I am sincerely sorry for the residents that still have to deal with the negligence of the management.